WITH (fingers crossed) Spring soon approaching it’s time for many to refresh our homes and gardens, blow away the cobwebs of winter, and welcome the light and sunshine back in.

One thing to consider while spring cleaning is the environmental impact that you are having. Are you using harsh chemicals that are going to find their way out into the world, affecting wildlife, rivers, etc? Or perhaps you are buying cleaning supplies in brand new plastic bottles?

There are some fantastic environmentally-friendly alternatives to your regular supermarket products that you can find in sustainable living shops, that work just as well if not better, and don’t come with any new plastic!

For example, you can get cleaning products as concentrates inside dissolvable sachets.

All you do is rinse out your old bottles, fill with fresh water and drop the sachet in and you’ve just made a whole bottle of anti-bac cleaner, or kitchen degreaser, or many other cleaners, for a fraction of the cost, and without creating any more plastic waste.

Then there’s things like sponges and scourers which you can get plastic free versions of now made from all sorts of natural materials, wood fibre, coconut husks, and even cactus!

Along with the spring cleaning, the lighter days give us a better chance of getting out in the garden or allotment and getting things growing, or at least ready for growing.

This year why not see how nature friendly you can make your garden, with bee-friendly wildflowers, and insect hotels. Both will support a huge amount of insects and other wildlife, and personally I find wildflowers really beautiful. Cornflowers are my favourites, but then you also get daisies, poppies, marigolds, chamomile to just name a few.

All of the items I’ve mentioned are available in the newly relocated My Carbon Coach sustainable living shop on Station Road.